History of the North Carolina Railroad

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HISTORY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD

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THE LIBRARY OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF

NORTH CAROLINA

THE COLLECTION OF
NORTH CAROLINIANA

UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL

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FOR USE ONLY IN
THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION

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eN'optl\ C^polirja oMistopieaa (§)o@iettj

AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.

HISTORY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD,

BY

HON. RUFUS BARRINGER,

OF CHARLOTTE.

IRead before the Society at Chapel Hiil, May iO, 1894,

RALEIGH:
N'evvs and Observer Press.

Ck 3> ^~. I

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2012 with funding from

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil

http://www.archive.org/details/historyofnorthcaOObarr

BISTORT OW TBK NORTH CARO-
LINA BAlLliOAD.

BT OEN. B. B1REINGEB

The building of an ordinary rail-
road ie now no longer a matter of
special interest to the public. Of
late sears, the achievements in that
way h»ve bean on such a gigantic
scale 98 almost to cease to attract
attention. But the grant of the
charter of the Worth Oarolmft Rail-
road in 1848-9 with two million ol
dollars of State aid, was a new de-
parture amongst us, and was, in
fact, the basis end the beginning of
cur entire present system of in-
ternal improvement, now reaching
and intersecting 6very part of the
State.

The Cbsir of History at the State
University has therefore, done well
to make the building of this great
"Central" line, as it was loagcallsd,
one of its subjects of historic re-
search and study. I have myself,
too, selected it as such, because I
think the changes then set in mo-
tion, tend to explain better than
anything else the previous leth-
argy of our people, and also the
causes of the wonderful ac-
tivity now seen and felt in all
clasaea amongst us. I likewise select
this subject, partly, because I was
an actor in the vital legislative
changes then effected, and I happen
to know that some important errors
prevail in regard to the real authors
of that great measure I was at
that thm a member of the "House
of Commons," as it was then called,
from the county of Cabarrus, and £

thick I was well posted as to all
matters so especially affecting the
interests of my constituents.

The subject has certain inherent
difficulties, which have never before,
so far as I know, been discussed in
the spirit of true historical criticism
and analytic, and I approach it
with some diffidence, because it in-
volves times and occasions of much
sectional, political and personal an-
imosity and strife, which, for vari
ous reasons, our leading men have
heretofore been reluctant to agitate.
But the time has now fully come
for impartial research for the truth,
and I feel that the learned Professor
of History at Chapel Hill will give
credit for an honest attempt to
solve the problem of the marvellous
changes referred to on the simple
deduction of logical results from
the facts and figures I shall give. If
I sometimes seem to speak in the
critical tone of impatient progress,
and to denounce somewhat strongly
the "terrapin p&cs of onr Old Rip
Van Winkleism," i am s ". Dr. Bat-
tle will understand thav J j^ean
nothing unkind to either the dead
or the living; and that I started in
public life, over fifty years ago, a
"born Whig Reformer" My first
public speech was in Grerrard Hall in
1841, on the "Iniquities of the
English Opium Trade in China,"
an evil now threatening America as
well.

A HISTOBICAL BETE08PECT,

To get at the poverty of the State
in 1848, and to show the difficulties
to be encountered and overcome by
the friends of Internal Improve-

<L,

4

HISTORY OF THE

ment and general Reform, it is nec-
essary to recur to the strange anom-
alies of the organic law under which
we had lived in North Carolina for
three fourths of a century, and the
endleis sectional strife thus en-
gendered. It will also then appear
how these difficulties vanished, the
moment a true American leader
struck the cord of popular senti
ment; and an honest conv ction
touched the North Carolina heart.

In 1790, North Carolina was the
third State in the Union in popula-
tion and wealth. By the census of
1840, she had declined to the rela-
tive place of the eleventh. Why
was this? Is it possible to trace
clearly the causes of this decline?
I shall attempt to do so; and the
present generation cf our young
people will be uurprised to
leatn that the first ei *n of real Pro-
gress and Reform carae from a bold
Western statesman from the new
State of Illinois, Judge Stephen A.
Douglas, about 1847, then in this
State in s- roh cf a wife Singu-
lar! y too,' .is visit b here were follow-
lowed the next year, 1848, by one
of. mercy from a renowned philan
thropist, Miss Dorothea L. Dix, of
Massachusetts, on the then
seemingly hopeless mission of pro-
viding for the care and the cure of
the insane.

I frankly admit that, apparently,
these matters seem quite incongru-
ous to the subject in hand, and yet
I shall show that Judge Douglas and
Miss Dix each helped to pave the
way for the grant of the Charter for
the North Carolina Railroad.

The entering wedge was when
the 'Little Giant of the West" told
"Little Davy Reid" that the old
English Constitution of 1776, under
which our State of North Carolina
lived, was a fraud on Popular Sov-
ereignty, and "Little David" and
the wily W. W Holden horrified the
old Hunker Democracy of East
North Carolina, with the startling
dogmas of "Free Suffrage, and Pro-
gress 1 '

The true connection of these re-
mote and widely separated events
can only be fully seen by the aver-
age voter of today, ty recounting
truly the history of the noted Con-
stitution of 1776, and the evils it
entailed. That instrument has been
persistently lauded here in North
Carolina as a Palladium of Liberty;
and. in the main essentials of indi-
vidual Right and Freedom, as also
in its early recognition of both com-
mon education and advanced cul-
ture, it deserves all praise. But at
the same time it laid restrictions on
freedom of conscience; on the great
right of suffrage, and especially on
a 1 just legislative representation,
utterly inconsistent with the Bill of
Rights preceding the Constitution
itself, and wholly fatal to real free
thought and wise public action.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1776— HOW
ADOPTED,

What was this Constitution ? and
what the special provisions com-
plained of, and how came it to be
adopted ?

At the time the Provincial Con-
vention met at Halifax in November,

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

1776, to organize the State govern-
ment, and to frame a Constitution,
blood had already been shed, and
all parts of the Province were alive
with effort to secure soldiers, to ob-
tain arms and the munitions of war,
and to equip and maintain troops.
It was no time to frame organic
laws, or to attempt to draft consti-
tutions. In this emergency, it was
very natural that the fathers should
still look to Eogland for the essen-
tial principles of Anglo Saxon free-
dom. Their quarrel was not bo
much with England and the Eng-
lish Constitution as it was with an
udj let Parliament and a tyrant
King. They, therefore, here in
North Carolina, still took the Eng-
lish Constitution as their guide ;
but, with many of its best features,
they unfortunately followed some
of the worst. Among others it re-
quired a propertv qualification of
£1,000 for the Governor, a land
qualification f~>r both the State
Senators and the Commoners: the
former three hundred acres, and the
latter one hundred, and a free-hold
of fifty acres for every voter for the
Senate. They also adopted a fixed
rule for the numbers of both bodies
— one Senator and two Con toners
from each county: with a Borough
member from each of the towns of
Edenton, Halifax, New Bern, Wil-
mington, Hillsboro and Salisbury:
all without regard to eize or popu-
lation, and not providing for
changes which must surely come.

Still further: They made no
safe or practicable provision for
amending the written Constitution

thus adopted, nor for correcting the
possible evils sure to arise in its
operation ; but, manifestly, here
again, pimply following the un-
written English model, and leaving
all to the General Assembly, so con-
stituted— as Parliament is supreme
in Great Britain As most of the
talent, wealth, population and cul-
ture then lay in the East, it gave
that section a decided preponder-
ence of influence and po^er, notably
so to the small counties around Albe-
marle Sound. And this thing did so
continue for over sixty years; while
the large counties of the Middle and
West increased rapidly in both
numbers and wealth, and many
Eastern counties not increasing at
all except in slaves. Another strange
provision was the singular religious
test, forbidding Roman Catholics,
Jews, and other non jurors from
holding public office or trust ! But
the adoption of this test shows the
intense bigotry with which all par-
ties and creeds st:'l clung to Eng-
lish supremacy, and Protestant
sway, as against Spanish and French
Catholics, Infidels, and all non-
believers. A quaint and heroic il-
lustration of the noble patriotism
of the times, is the fact of the old
covenanter, Ben Patton, as early as
as 1774, walking all the way from
Mecklenburg to the Provincial Con-
gress at Newborn, to join hands
with the High Churchman, John
Harvey, in his sturdy struggle with
Boyal Power. But it should always
be borne in mind that the colonies
had just a few years before come
out triumphantly from the war

HISTORY OF THE

that drove France from North
America, and that with all hnv faults,
at heart, "they loved old England
still". It was also the heroism of
Wolfa and the msitcoless a atwem^n-
ship of Chatham that gave them en-
during peace; and, with all danger
now removed alike from French
and Spanish and Indian, Indepen-
dence was a special and distinct
Eentiment of very recent growth.

AFTER EFFECTS

The war over and ladependenee
won, many minds instinctively
turned to the Constitution and gov-
ernment under which they lived
They f?ocn began to realize the
drawbacks surrounding them; and
a steady emigration started for the
promiticg State of Frankland, and
the "darfe and bloody ground of
Kentucky", whtra Sevier, Boone,
Shelby, Henderson and others of
North Carolina fame were planning
to "win the West" Still North
Carolina held her own, and at the
date of the first census 1790, as
stated, she was j the third of the
"Old Thirteen"; only Pennsylvania
and Virginia outranking her. But
now come other troubles.

THE FEDERAL UNION CF 1789 - ITS EF
EECTS THEN.

While the Union of 1789, was of
countless benefits and blessings to
the country at large, the wisest men
in North Carolina readily saw its
tendencies to centralized power;
and they, at first, promptly
declined to adopt the Federal Com-
pact. They had already realized
this in their State Constitution.

And now Will'e -Tones o* the East
end Joe McDowell o* the West stood
shoulder to shoulder in resisting
the adoption of the National Con-
stitution, until no less than eleven
amendments, mainly suggested by
North Carolinia, had been practi'
cally assented to by the accepting
States. But even these could not
effectually guard against the dan-
gers of implied construction; and
»ow again the people of both the
East and the West found their in-
terests assailed in many wajs not
dreamed of before

OLA* S AND SE0TIONAL LEGISLATION.

From the very first, the whole
system of Federal bounties, subsi-
dies, drawbacks, and other so call-
ed protective measures by Con
grsss, tended to antagonizs and in-
jure like fnterestn cere. At that
time, say 1790, North Carolina was
largely engaged in fishing and coast
trade; her numerous sounds and
rivers and sffiuent streams giving
her superior advantages So she had
extensive foundries, many kinds of
mills, tanneries, hatter and other
ebops, all sorts of handicrafts and
other skilled industries; and so suc-
cessful were they that she not only
supplied her own domestic wants,
but sent a large surplus to her less
enterprising neighbors of Virginia
and South Carolina All at once
these scattered and struggling in-
dustries were brought in sharp com-'
petition with those of the greater
Bkiil, and with the organized capi-
tal of the North and East; and ulti-
mately all declined. True the whole
South by clinging to simple agrr-

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

culture and to slave labor may Lave
committed gtosa error. But recent
experience shows that no sort of
agriculture, and not even combined
free labor, can stand up against
class powsr and patronage, once
protected by law And yet in this
way North Carolina was doubly
bound and cursed And while she
Buffered along with the South in
general from national legislation,
certain census facts and figures
show that other influences, peculiar
to herself, unquestionably kept her
under Compare her with Georgia
for instance. That State was also
one of the "original thirte3n " As
tested by population from 1790 to
1840, North Carolina had not dou-
bled a single time, while Georgia
had nine times; and so with Ten-
nessee and Kentucky, neither of
them in existence as States in 1790,
but both leading her in wealth aud
population in 1840.

Now the question is forced back
upon us by these facts and figures.
Why did North Carolina, with her
superior climate and her attractive
lands, as places for homes; with her
unrivalled water power, and her
endless variety of productions and
industries, including valuable fruits,
forests and minerals, alike in the
Middle, the East and the West —
why did she alone steadily de-
cline ?

STATE SECTIONAL STRIFE

All the facts show that, while
hostile national legislation may
have had some effect in producing
this great decline, it is equally clear
that other causes had the more

serious and lasting influence on the
pbople. And an examination of the
history of the S»ate will <3ia3lose the
fact that from 1776 to 1848, the Leg-
islature was one continued scene of
angry wrangle and strife between
whaf was known as the East and
the West, Wnat was more dis-
astrous, was the f*ot that the State
had no overshadowing or control
ling interests or high sentiment that
would tend to allay the strife, or
unite parties or people in any prac
tioal steps of Progress, or State
Reform This was iatal to true
State pride and to all real develop-
ment More than this: its direct
effect was to discourage in her lead
iag men ail thought or study of
State issues, and to induce them to
turn rather to the temptations of
party patronage and the more at-
tractive honors of National Politics.
And here as a rule, they generally
played a seeonoary role. In the
long period of seventy two years
there were no leading State issutK
presented to the people of North
Carolina I do not of course in-
clude the Convention of 1835, be-
cause that was a body of only lim-
ited power or influence.

Let us now turn to the historical
facts, and see what were the gen-
eral subjects of debate and agita-
tion in that eventful formative pe-
riod from 1776 to 1848 They were
almost invariably of a petty, narrow
or local class, though occasionally
important.

NEW COUNTIES.

One of the first and an ever re-
curring source of complaint and

8

HISTORY OF THE

annoyance was the erection of new
counties. This was in truth, how
ever, a most serious matter to those
interested. Often the citizens had
to travel hundreds of miles to at-
tend to the most ordinary public
and private duties; either to return,
or to pay taxes, to settle estates, to
secure a right, or to prevent a
wrong, or even to guard the peace.
The average citizen of today has no
conception of the extent of this
grievance in 1776 and for Bixty years
following Besides, it prevented
the Middle and West from aoquir
ing their due and proper influence
in the legislature and in the govern-
ment. Tney were steadily increas
ing in population and wealth, and
yet the East persistently denied
them relief, and they were helpless
to demand either right or justice at
the bands of a General Assembly,
virtually controlled by a dozen
eastern counties. It is painful
now to recall the facts of the
various artifices and devices re-
sorted to in order to over-
come obstacles and gain special
objects A. favorite plan was to
touch the pride of the East and play
upon the vanity of some leading
member of the legislature As a
result, we have in the Middle and
West counties called after Eastern
men of no special force or great re-
pute. Among others the following
counties were named in honor of
living public men from the East, or
from sections voting with the East,
largely because of slave property:
Burke, Caswell, Iredell, Cabarrus,
Ashe, Moore, Person, Haywood,

Macon and Yanoy; and after de-
ceased Eastern men, are Buncombe,
Davie, Gaston and Stanly

SKAT OF GOVERNMENT — RIVER NAVIGA-
TION.

For some years after 1776, the
place of meeting for the general
assembly was migratory; and annual
disputes were had ovt.r New Bern,
SaaithfieJd, Fayetteville and Hills-
bore, the Wfst always '-lsiming
Hilleboro. But about i795'this w< s
settled by the removal to Baleigh.
Then tor long dreary years there
was no new question of importance
to break the monotony of Email
strife, until the West sought to open
up its rivers, and build looks
and dams to make them navigable.
After the complete fu^cess of the
Grand Eii< Canal, thta-, for a tiaoe
were a peifeot rage in the Middle
and West, headed c iefly by Judge
A. D. (Hurpbey. The East had no
need for such works and so would
do nothing. The leading men of
that section, had early adopted the
theory of a strict construction of the
Federal Constitution on this sub-
ject, and now applied it to State
improvement Companies were or-
ganized for so improving the Ca-
tawba, Yadkin, Deep and Haw riv-
ers, and much private capital spent
and all ultimately lost, because the
State would not aid

EDUCATION AND RAILROADS.

A gain the Middle and West called
for better educational facilities, and
here again the East opposed. Some
did not care for education and oth-
ers sent their children North or

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

arrjad for culture Then it was
about 1825-1826, that the West, in
a body, regardless of creed, place
or party, resolved to start a "West
ern College," and actually located
the same at Linuolnton. Tuis,
too, failed, but remotely it led to
Davidson College and other denomi-
national colleges A little later Dr.
Joseph Caldwell, president of the
University at Chapel Hill, wrote his
famous 'Carlton Letter*," urging a
State Railroad fsom Beaufort bar
bor in the East, right through the
State to the mountains of the Weot.
Even here the Ewt refused to move,
and the scheme came to naught
Though, later the Middle and the
Eist themselves used the credit cf
the State to build the Raleigh and
Gaston, the Wilmington and Wei-
• don (or Raleigh) and the Weldon
and Petersburg roads, all practi-
cally leading out of the State.

THE CONVENTION OF 1835.

But during all this time, the one
irritating, all pressing question of
the West was a regular demand,
made year after j ear, for the legis-
lature to call a convention to revise
and amend the State Constitution.
No argument.no appeal could reach
the small olligarohy that controlled
that body. At last an event oc-
curred in 1834 that brought the
whole subject of a revision of the
organic law most forcibly before
the public. In that year,
there was a vacancy in the
Supreme Court of the State. Ac-
cording to custom, the middle East
was entitled to tbe man; and he was

found at Newbern in the Hon Wil
Ham GastoD, too lawyer of highest
repute and of most culture in the
State He way, besides, personally
very popular all over North Caro-
lina, and of some reputation as a
debater in Congress j-ist after the
war of 1812, which brought oompli
ments from Haury Clay and others
But William Gaston was an avowed
Roman Catholic Despite this he
was elected; and, as there were now
strong doubis as o the exact mean-
ing of the famous thirty-second ar-
ticle of the State Constitution- and
Gaston himself thought, he was not
excluded, the sentiment was uni-
versal in favor of his acceptance.
He did so; and took the usual oath
of offioe. This, as never before,
subjected the Constitution of 1776
to popular criticism The Legisla-
ture yielded; and a Convention was
called, and met in 1835; but with
only limited powers to make certain
specified amendments. These em
braced substantially the abro-
gation of the offensive thirty-
second article, and a change
in the basis of representation in
both Houses; and a modification of
the property qualification in cer-
tain particulars; but leaving un-
touched that of fifty acres of land
for the State Senate

Such was the convention of 1835.
Its work was only half done; and
what was done served only to stim-
ulate further inquiry into the true
causes of popular discontent and
the general depression. England
had already passed her great Re-
form Bill three years before; and

HISTORY OF THE

the general agitation went on here.
But soon two other events followed
each other in quick suseeasioo, and
with such startling results, as for
the time, to override all else These
ware the

WILD SPECULATIONS OF 1836 AND THE
PANIC CF 1837

The overthrow by Gen. Jackson
of the "United States Bank", and
the rapid growth of the "Pet State
Banks" soon flooded the country
with a "redundant depreciated cur-
rency ". Everybody now ran fairly
wild with speculation, especially in
public lands Then came the inevi-
table "Panic of 1837"— exceeding
anything ever eeen in the United
States before or since.

So great W83 the re-action that it
swept the old Hickory -VanBuren
Democracy from power in the "Log
Cabin, Ooon Skin, Hard Cider/'
cs mpaign of 1840, and landed in the
white house "Old Tip and Tyler
too ." The death of Harrison in less
than a month, yave the whole coun-
try the "Tyler Grip" for well nigh
full four years: and no people suf-
fered like North Carolina during
those troublous times. In the flush
days of 1835 and 1836, many of the-
more enterprising slave holders
moved to the rich cotton lands of
Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas,
while thousands of the hardy, self-
reliant and spirited non-slave hol-
ders rushed to the inviting North-
west. It was then that Oaleb B.
Smith, a member of Congress from
Indiana, told a member of Congress
from North Carolina, that fully one-

third of his constituents were North
Carolinians, or of North Carolina
descent

THE DBuDHGHT OF 1845 AND A CHAR-
LOTTE RAILROAD

As if all this was not enough
to depopulate and exhaust the
distracted and divided old State,
in 1845 occurred the most
fearful drought ever experienced
through tue Piedmont region. It
wa» so marked in its effects as to
somewhat prepare the public all
over the State for a fair discussion
of our sectional differences, and also
the absolute necessity of some sys-
tem of railroad connection between
the E ist and the West In the win-
ter of 1845-46 corn rose in many
partB of West North Carolina from
fifty cents to one dollar and a half
a bushel. Much stock perished for
want of food, and hardly could
bread or meat be had at any price.
At the same time, all through the
East, corn was rotting in the field,
and fish was used to manure land.

About this same time, during
these scarce years of 1845-'46, the
leading men of Charlotte began to
agitate a connection with the rail-
road system of South Carolina, then
approaching this section through
both Camden and Columbia. Steps
were taken for a convention to or-
ganize a company for that purpose,
and this was done in the summer fo
1847, ultimately selecting Columbia
as the point.

Also Richmond, Ya. was extend-
ing her railroad system so as to
reach our border counties on the
North.

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

THE RIP VAN WINKLE OF THE SOUTH

But in all this, there was no hope
for the redemption of North Caro-
lina herself There was no railroad
west cf Raleigh AH the roads east
of Raleigh had become embar-
rassed *nd seemed to have no f u-
ture. The amend 6d4Gon*>titution of
1835 had not operated to quiet ag-
itation, or to inspire hope. On the
contrary, the very abJe debates of
1834-5 had rather tended to in
crease the discontent by fully ex-
posing the inequalities of our whole
State government It was not a
free and equal government in the
American tense. The State was lag-
gard in every thing. An eminent
aouth Carolina Senator had openly
twitted her as the "Rip Van Win-
kle of the South," and her devoted
Gaston had written "The Old North
State Forever," virtually admitting
the justice of the taunt.

1848 — FREE BUFFBAGE A STATE CAM-
PAIGN,

This year, 1848, was an epoch in
the Nineteenth Century. On Feb-
ruary 22nd, 1848, a tmall outbreak
at a banquet in Paris had brought
on a conflict that made France a
Republic, and shook half the thrones
of Europe. The Mexican war had
made new issues in America, and
the whole civilized world seemed to
awake to the mighty impulses of the
age. But here in North Carolina
an artful politician was laying his
plans to draw his people from the
whirlpool of national politics, and
plunge them into one of local sec-
tional strife, so much dreaded by

all classes of citizens; and be stirred
up an agitation wonderful in itB re-
sults

In 1844, James Knox Polk had
beaten Henry Clay »nd so restored
the Democracy to Federal power.
But North Carolina remained true
to the WhiRs, and in 1847 Gov.
Wm. A. Graham had carried the
State against Jsmes B Shep-
ard an Eastern man, by a
largely increased majority Pros-
pects looked so bad for the
Democrats that no one cared to
make a canvass that was attended
with so much personal labor and
exposure; such as had already cauB-
ed the death of two of their best
leaders— one of them in 1844, the
lamented Michael Hoke, in the
very prime of life; In this emer-
gency the Hon. David S. Reid, an
numble member of Congress from
the Rockingham District, appeared
in the field on a distinatly new State
issue, dubbed, "Free Suffrage:"
and which, it was charged at the
time, the Editor o? the famous Dem-
ocratic organ in Raleigh, the North
Carolina Standard, had managed to
get into the party platform, much
against the wishes of the party lea-
ders. Nor is it clear how the Hon.
Mr. Reidcame to adopt such a side-
issue, in a great national cam-
paign, as that then pending, with a
united party, and an acceptable
candidate— Gen. Case, at its head.
But certain it is, that it proved a
master stroke of bold political wis-
dom, and soon changed the
party character of the State —
finally made Reid Governor

HISTORY OF THE

and then United States Senator, and
gave the State permanently to the
Democracy. As a master of fact,
nwing to tbe local sectional trou-
bles between the East and the
Weft., the leaders of both parties
had long sought to avoid State
issues and trust rather to National
to pica for popular discussion. But
the story is, that after the great
« Popular Sovereignty Leater,"
Judge Douglas, began paying at
tentioo to Miss Martin, of Rocking-
ham, N 0 , and making occasional
visit' here, he was amezed to find
ho much of both Old England and
New England ' fogyism" still per-
vading our organic law, and that he
singled out the "fifty acre qualifica-
tion" for voters for the Senate, as a
text on which a proper leader could
carry all before him. His kinsman
and friend adopted exactly this
course Reid was not a popular
orator; the Whig candidate, Charles
Manly, was vary sprightly and
attractive; and at first seemed to
oarry all before him. He ridi
ouled the '-hobby," and he often
was cheered alike by Eastern Dem-
ocrats and Whigs, many of whom
still clung with tenacity to the work
of the Fathers of 1776 But when
the votes were counted out on the
first Thursday in August, as was
then the law in State elections, the
Whig majority had fallen from
many thousand to a few hundred.
In the next race for Governor, 1850,
the same candidates were nominat-
ed, and again made the canvass.
But Manly now changed his tone,
treated the questions seriously, and

even triV'i to go further than the
"Radical David " He advocated the
election of Magistrates, Judges, and
all State orficials by the people But
the latter saw the dodgy, and stuck
to Reid And so Reid and "Free
Suffrage" triumphed together. The
constitution was changed by Legis-
lative enactment, ' and at the ballot
box, at least, all white men stood
equal before the law

LIGHT BREAKING MIS? DIX AND HER

MISSION

In all the canvass of 1848 and in
all the discussions of that memora
ble year, here in North Carolina
scarcely anything was said about
schemes of internal improvement;
and least of all, about a great Cen-
tral Railroad The Whigs honestly
wanted something of the kind; but
they were half hearted, and feared
party lose. The Democrats, as a
rule, did not favor State aid, and
hated all talk about "State Reform "
And as the Historian Moore, him-
self an Eastern Democrat, well puts
it: They said, "If the West want
Railroads, let them build them
themselves "

But the moment men got to think-
ing, and were allowed free debate,
the scales fell from their eyes. And
then the true leaders began to see
the long night of "Rip- Van-Winkle-
ism," already illumed with the hope
of a coming dawn. But as yet no
one man had spoken out, and there
was no plan of action. On the
contrary, the appearances were all
exceedingly unfavorable to any con-
certed plan of action.

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

T:s

But during the Fall of 1818 Miss
Dorothea L Dix came South on her
wonderful work in behalf of the
iDsane. There was then no Bail-
road in all the rich Piedmont seo
tioo, West of the line extending
from Richmond, Virginia, to Au-
gusta, Georgia, and she had to
make her way in lumbering stage
ooaohes as best she oould from
point to point and then from oounty
to county in hired vehicles, over
rough dirt roads, in order to exam
ine the jails and poor houses, where
the destitute insane were then kept.
Her object, of course, was to get
plain facts, and so lay the truth be-
fore the several legislatures, she
was here in Charlotte at one of our
fall courts, when John W. Eliis, the
young Democratic leader from
Rowan, myself and other members-
elect to the General Assembly called
on her. She received like attentions
all through the State, and when she
finally reached Raleigh, and began
to give out the facts, good people
were simply horrified at the report
she stood prepared to make. The
helpless beings were not only often
confined, on slight charges, and
frequently loaded with clanking
chains, all on the idea then com-
monly prevailing here, of there
being no other practicable mode of
treatment; but the jails and poor-
houses themselves were horrid to
look upon— almost invariably filled
with filth and stench, and the occu-
pants often indiscriminately crowd-
ed together.

This was with Miss Dix no mere
sentiment, and she seemed to de

spise affectation in any call to high
Christian duty. Every thought was
based on sound sense and direct
business methods Her name was
already world wide — her fame ri
valing that of Howard and Romilly.
She touched incidentally, and with-
out the least offense, the general
backwardness of the State, a State
at once so desirable to live in, and
so in need of development. The
papers had little to say, but intelli-
gent men and women of all classes
and all seotions saw a crisis was
upon us. If the work of Progress
and Reform was onoe entered upon,
there was no limit to the demands
upon the cash and credit of the
State, not then what it now is, nor
what it soon became under the im-
pulse of the bold legislation of the
memorable session then near at
hand. Still there was no intimation
of any given line of movement, or
even a chance of departure from
the traditional "doigingdo-nothing
polioy." Worse still, there was no
money in the treasury, and the
treasurer's report then showed the
whole State revenue for general pur-
poses was only the pitiful sum of
of $96,000; a less sum by half
than Charlotte and Mecklenburg
oounty now annually collect and
pay out. But here was this heroic
woman asking, at one swoop, fully
$100,000!
And now to the battle.

THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION OF 1848-'9.

The two Houses met November
20th, 1848 Party feeling ran high.
Taylor had been elected President,

H

HISTORY OF THE

and Manly had carried the State;
but che latter by so small a majority
as to point to the ultimate triumph
of "Little Davia" and the "Free
Suffrage Democracy", if only the
party harness could be kept in or-
der, and well in place But here
again was a singular coincident:
Each house was just evenly tied;
and each had several contested
seats; and the famous one of Wad-
dell against Berry, from Orange,
actually extending through six
weeks. What chance for Railroads
and Lunatic Asylums in such a
bodj!

After a few days' balloting the
Whigs got the Commons, with the
generous, conciliating Robert B.
Gilliam, of the strong slave county
of Granville, for Speaker; and the
Democrats secured the Senate, with
the unyielding, unfaltering, ever re-
liable Oalvin Graves from the no
less negro county of Oaswell, as
their Speaker and leader.

Gov. Wm. A. Graham was the re-
tiring Executive, and in his last
message, he g&ve account of the
deplorable condition of both the
State and the people. He frankly
admitted that -'the transportation
facilities were the worst of any State
in the Union " The Raleigh and
Gaston Railroad had utterly broken
down, and was near a stand-still;
the Wilmington and Weldon was
threatened with default; and the
State in the lurch for both ! He
cordially commended Miss Dix and
her mission to the earnest consider-
ation of the members; but even he

could not yet recommend State
aid.

Still Gov. Graham did advise a
sort of prospective line of railroad
from Raleigh to Salisbury, and then
to be extended on to Charlotte, and
ultimately connect with the road ap-
proaching that point from Charles-
ton and Columbia For this pro-
posed line he advised a limited State
aid, but it was mainly to serve and
save the dilapidated Raleigh and
Gaston Hue, acd eo protect the State
from expected loss Aud it was
pointedly objected that the first
and immediate effect of such a line
would only be to build up towns
and cities out of the State, with
a mere chance of an Eastern exten-
sion, thereafter, as suggested by the
Governor William A. Graham,
however, was the one man
that then and at all times repre-
sented the beat conservative pro-
gress of the State; and if this was
all he and his followers had to offer,
the prospects were gloomy enough.

THE 'DANVILLE CONNECTION:" A LION IN
THE WAY.

But it also speedily turned out
that, in anticipation of the City of
Richmond extending one of its nu-
merous railroad lines on to Dan-
ville, upon our Northern border,
the Charlotte and South Carolina
Railroad Company would carry their
Road right on through the State;
and would do this without a dollar
of public money — State or County.
They asked only a "naked charter."
Then, what made matters doubly
complicated was the fact that

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

every member along this pro-
posed "Danville Connection" from
Mecklenburg to Rockingham, stood
prepared to fight to the very end
for thid "Naked Charter."

Mr Ellis, cf Rowan, had charge
of the bill, and the same was intro-
duce! the very day after the organ-
ization of the Assembly.

Tae most determined, ever ready,
outspoken opponent of the "Dan-
ville Connection" was the Hon. Ed-
ward Stanly, member of the House
from the couaty of Beaufort, in the
extreme East. He was an ex-mem-
ber of Congress — of some repute,
and easily led the Whigs. He was
an intense partisan, but was always
a generous foe. Ha indulged in no
demagogism; did not make set
speeches; rarely published one, and
never "spoke for Buncombe " His
position was a peculiar one. No
railroad talked of or contemplated
was likely to reacn his home of "Lit-
tle Washington;" nor did he have
any scheme of his own to embarrass
him. He therefore stood forth as a
bold and really honest advocate for
any really good North Carolina sys-
tem that would likely build up our
own State. This attitude gave great
weight to all he said. He boldly
avowed his purpose to fight, in
every conceivable way, what he
called the "Danville Sale " "But,"
he would often say, "the friends of
this South Carolina and Virginia
bondage were not to blame, so long
as the North Carolina Assembly
failed to give her people a real
North Carolina system." '"This

failing," he said, "I, too, go for
Danville "

Meantime, a bill embodying Gov.
Graham's plan had been intro-
duced, but had no strength. And
yet all agreed "that something must
be done," and there was a general
demand for an advance movement
all along the line of modern pro-
gress.

In the midst of all this doubt and
despondency, the Hon. James 0.
Dobbin, of Cumberland, the leader
of the Liberal Democracy, appeared
in the House from the death bed of
his wife, and in the spirit of her last
request made the speech of the ses-
sion in favor of a State Asylum
President Swain too had come down
from Chapel Hill, and asked in the
name of the young men of the State
soma hope of progress. Miss Dix
herself consented to appear before
the House She entered, lean-
ing on the arm of the President
of the noble State University, then
just rallying from a painful struggle
of over fifty years. All this waB
more than even the "Hard Shell
Democrats" could stand. The Dix
Bill passed by 101 to 10 in the
House.

This measure, of course, had no
connection with Railroads, and yet
the friends of the railroad all brea-
thed freer. At last, one advance
step had been taken, and at last, a
breach had been made in the solid,
eerried ranks of an Old Fogy, State
Sectionalism, and a narrow-mis*
called Jeffersonian Democracy. Miss
Dix alludes to this in letters at the
time.

i6

HISTORY OF THE

Immediately every body went to
work to get up bills for some new
measure; Short Line Railroads,
Canals, Turnpikes, water-waye,PJank
Roads, Law Reform?, Bights of Mar-
ried Women, and hundreds of other
bills poured in. Bat no one dared
to tackle a regular Railroad System,
requiting millions cf State money.
At ,last the Hon. W. 8. Ashe, the
Democratic Senator from New Han-
over, later a member of Congress,
and in after years President of the
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad,

Si urged to formulate a plan.
Ir. Ashe came from a town that
t did not have faith in Beaufort
Harbor. Her keen-witted W. B.
Meares had hit a commercial Bnag
long before, when he said, "It storms
at Beaufort 365 day a in the year"
Mr Ashe's bill was a plain business
Bcheme. It proposed the begin-
ning of a sort of North Garolina
system. This called for two mil-
lions ol Slate money to build a rail-
road from Charlotte to Goldsboro,
two hundred and twenty five miles,
provided one million of stock was
otherwise taken. It left out for the
present the Baleigh and Gaston re-
lief idea; and all '•Buncombe9' about
both Beaufort Harbor and the Duck
Town copper mines of Cherokee.
This, of course, tended at first to
weaken the bill; but the wisest men
easily saw that the line was a good
one; that it would gain strength on
its own merit; and more, by not at
tempting too much.

Still no one attempted to lead off
for the Ashe bill. So, at last, the
friends of the "Danville Connec-

tion" resolved to renew , the
fight, for their "naked charter.? But
Mr. EIHb, wbo had charge of the
"Danville Bill." had been made a
Judge., and things were all at sea
and our councils much divided On
the^fifteenth of January, 1849, we
go!; our Danville Bill up; and Mr.
Stanly, as usual, was baffling every
effort to get a vote. I chanced to
get the floor, and resolved to hold
it till a vote was reached in some
form. Mr. Stanly interfered with
his regular taunts about selling out
to Virginia and South Carolina, and
referred to Richmond as only a
"Great Slave Mart," and to Charles-
ton aB "surviving solely on pas
pretentions." This I resented and
defied him to make us an offer of
any Bill providing for a general
North Carolina System, likely to
pass, and with sufficient State »id
to secure its completion, and I,
for one, would vote for it; and that
I believed a large majority of my
"Danville" comrades would do the
same. This was received with some
applause by the main body of my
"Danville" friends. But the Meck-
lenburg and Rockingham members
loudly protested. I now felt bold
to repeat the pledge of the
Danville Charter people to any
fair and feasible North Carolina
System. Ihis was answered
by applause from all parts of
the House, Mr.Stanly then sprung to
his feet and, holding up the Ashe
bill, said be would pledge himself
and his Eastern friends to that bill,
if I would do the same. I assented,
and Mr. Stanly was about to pre-

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

t7

sent the Ashe bill to the House,
when a question arose as to its
probable place on the calendar. The
session was now nearly two months
gone, and there was danger in
delay. Therefore Mr Williams, of
New Hanover, suggested that the
"Danville Bill" be laid upon the
table, to enable some one to take up
the Gov. Graham scheme; also
known as the "North Carolina Rail-
road Bill", and which was well up
on the calendar J This was all done;
and I, still holding the floor, the
Journal shows — page 672 —that
'Mr. Barringer moved to strike out
all after the enacting clause and to
insert in lieu thereof a substitute."
This substitute was the "Ashe Bill"
The next day Mr. H. 0. Jones, Sr.,
who had now arrived, as the suc-
cessor of Judge Ellis, from Rowan,
moved to insert in the Ashe
bill the several sections of the
Graham bill to revive the Raleigh &
Gaston road; and Mr. Wadsworth, of
Graven, moved to insert like pro*
visions for opening the Neuse river
from Goldsboro to New Bern So
the North Carolina Railroad bill,
thus amended.came up on its second
reading and was rejected by a vote
of forty -nine to fifty- six But to
those familiar with the actual feel-
ing of the House, the result was not
discouraging The usual motion
was made to reconsider, and on the
17th it passed its second reading —
sixty to forty -nine I Now came an-
other scramble for amendments,
some to make the bill mora accept-
able in certain particulars, others to
get in local improvements for which

particular members were now anx-
ious; and still others, to so load it
down with State aid as to defeat it
either here or in the Senate. These
were generally voted down, and
thus lost us a few weak supporters.
And finally the third reading was
set for the 18th, when it passed —
sixty to fifty-two; the Mecklen-
burg and Rockingham delegates
still voting solid against it; D. W.
Courts and T. W. K9en from the
latter, and N. J. Harrison, J N.
Davis and J. J. Williams from Meck-
lenburg.

THE BILL IN THE SENATE A TIE 3PEAKEB

GRAVES.

The chances in the Senate were
all in doubt. That body was Damo-
oratio: and up to this time, no
special effort had been made to
draw the old ship from its Jeffer
sonian moorings. And such men
as Henry W. Cannon, John H Drake,
A. B. Hawkins, John Berry, George
Bower, W. D. Bethel, George W
Thompson, and John Walker were
hard to lead and could not be
driven. And above them all sat
Speaker Calvin Graves, a recognized
force from a county just under
the nose of Danville, and devoted to
Richmond. The speaker was tall,
angular, and singularly ugly in
feature: but his character was high;
he was strictly inpartial, and with
all courtesy in bearing. From first
to lest no one could divine a lean-
ing either way. But now a mighty
effort was made to teach these born
men of the plow and of the people
a new tenet of Republican faith, a

l8

HISTORY OP THE

to what the State owed the public.
Judge Romalus M Sanders and W.
W. Holden both stepped forward
and made strong appeals for the
new departure. But all to no pur-
pose And then some of the
Whigs, left out by the Ashe
Bill, stood aloof. From t^ese and
other oauses^it was seen from day
to day, that in all the preliminary
skirmishes, as also in the final strug-
gle, the result would be vezy close,
and that all might hang on the
"Baptist Enigma," Calvin Graves.

By consent, the first and second
readings were chiefly formal, to get
the measure in shape, and to secure
all sides and parties a just showing.
This was after the old style, quiet,
North Carolina way, when, as a
hundred years before, Dissenters
and Churchman were alike honoring
King, Queen and Boyal Governor
by naming towns, counties and
mountain peaks after them, but at
the same time, solemnly resolved to
hurl them instantly from power "if
they did not do exactly the fair
thing" So, here, every courtesy
was shown opposing parties and in-
terests until January 25 th, when the
bill came regularly up, after full
debate, and w»s put on its third and
final reading The Senate chamber
was packed with visitors and
strangers from all quarters to see
the fate of the momentous struggle,
now so full of weal or woe to
the dear "Old North State,"
and which might settle here
once for all the mighty ef-
fort to awake North Carolina from
the long sleep of her death-like

"Rip-Van Winfeleism"

Speaker Graves calmly announc-
ed: "The Bill to charter the North
Carolina Railroad Company and for
other purposes is now upon its third
reading. Is the Senate ready for
the question?" Feeble responses said,
'Question." The roll call began ;
and as feared, nearly every Demo-
crat voted "No." The tally was kept
by hundreds, and when the clerk
announced twenty-two yeas and
twenty- two nays, there was an
awful silence The slender form of
Speaker Graves stood up, and lean-
ing slightly forward, with gavel in
hand; he said: "The vote on the
Bill being equal, 22 yeas and 22
nays, the Chair votes Yea. The Bill
has passed its third and l^sfc read-
ing.

I have seen and read of many
memorable and famous contests, and
have witnessed many out breaks of
popular applause; but never any-
thing like that then following Even
the granite Capitol seemed to shake
for joy But this wbb not all There
was teen no electric telegraph
in North Carolina; no express
lines; no mail delivery; but
immediately, every man and woman,
every boy and girl, became a sort of
message bearer. News was hastened
in every possible way to every nook
and corner of the Old Common-
wealth, and the one phrase was :
"Speaker Graves has saved the
State — the Railroad bill has
passed."

AFTEB CONTESTS AND INCIDENTS.

Here really ends the "Historic
Struggle" for the North Carolina-

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

i i

Railroad All tubstquent events
were mere incidents in the develop-
ment of a modern transportation
system. And some of these were :
The peculiar canvas* for raising the
million of private stock; the efforts
to repeal the charter at the nest
session of 1850-1 ;the grant of an
other million of State aid; the
spread of the spirit for improvement
all over the State; the extensions
both East and West; the renewal of
the application for a charter for the
"Danville Connection;" its refusal
in 1858, sad its grant and building
1861-4; th-a effect of the Richmond
and Danville System; and the
Lease to that System - these
were all important features,
and invoked sharp contests.
But they are all common p' ace,
compared with the long sectional
struggle that kepb North Carolina
poor and purssless for nearly thre3-
fourtha of a century, and then sud-
denly came to an end in the Historic
Epoch of 1848, by the grant of the
Charter of the "Great Forth Caro-
lina Railroad", and which has had
the effect of making us one people,
and started us, at last, on the sure
ground of Industrial Progress and
Commercial Success. The extension
of the lease of our great central
line may now be an open question,
to stand on its own merits.1 But its
clear effect, originally, was to give
North Carolina a leading North
and South through line; and now
we have no less than four North
and South through lines; and vir-
tually three East and West lines,
snaking a real net- work of roads; and

reaching almost every corner of the
State. ; In my judgment, the begin-
ning of all this wonderful life and
activity had its hope and start in
the singular, striking "Free Suf
frage Campaign" of 1848; but it
would all have been lost, and prob-
ably for years to come, had it not
been for the high patriotism, for
the wonderful force of charac-
ter of that plain North Carolina
gentleman and Christian statesman,
Calvin Graves, of G&sweU I hap-
pen to know that Mr. Graves was
appealed to on every side to follow
Party tradition, even to rosentiag
the personal hits of Mr. Stanly, al-
ways at heart an anti slavery man.
But Mr. Graves stood nobly for
Duty

ESROBS AHD CORRECTIONS.

I might here close; but I find
many popular errors afloat in regard
to this great North Carolina work,
and I tnink that most of them ca.n
be traced to loosely-written Sforth
Carolina History. In Moore's North
Carolina School History, page 206,
it i< stated that in 1848 —"Ex-Gov-
ernor Morehead and others besought
the Legislature for State aid in a
great line from Charlotte to Golds -
boro — two hundred and forty miles
long:" And Cameron, in his North
Carolina Handbook, page 284, con-
founds the North Carolina Railroad
with the Atlantic and North Caro-
lina Railroad, and speaks of the
former as "undertaken in 1853."
Now the truth is that in 1848, Gov.
Morehead was, body and soul, for
the Danville Connection, Nor did
he ever give up his first love for that

HISTORY OF THE

line, and es Hie as 1858 was elected
to the Legislature mainly to secure
the Danville Charter

The speech of his life was
made in reply to W. T.
Dart oh and others, who still clung
to the old-time sectional prejudices
The charter was refused, bus the
war soon opened the eyes of Mr.
Dsrtoh and his friends

But it is also true that, in due
time, when it was feared that the
million of private stock might not
be raisad, and so save the charter,
Gov. Morehead came forward as the
one man to rally the masses to the
work He did it, and was made the
first President of the company.
Then he also went to work to build
the Eastern Extension to Beaufort
Harbor; for long years a sad failure,
but of late even "the Mullet Road"
begins to pay. Such is the remark-
able effect of this "Great. Backbone,"
the North Carolina Railroad, in
bringing together all the diverse
and diversified mioresfcs of our
thriving North Carolina population.

SOBia EElXIKISOJiNOES AND A PREDICTION.

At once, after the charter was
granted, the people took hope.
They organized companies to begin
the numerous works provided for
by the legislature, as opening up
rivers, digging canals, building
turnpikes, plank roads, &c, &c.
Emigration from the State was meas-
urably stopped, and a large body of
Bmali slave holders— our most enter-
prising class — soon sprang up in all
parts of the State. Better still, the
mechanic arts were once more re-
vived under the ad valorem Walker

tariff of 1846 An old uncle of mine
had about a dczen slaves, and nearly
all were trained mechanics, choice
cooks, etc. But wilh all this there
was as yet no surplus money in
North Carolina, nor was there any
such device as a "Cons ruction Com-
pany" in those primitive timee in
North Carolina Up to January 1,
1850, the million of private stock
had not been secured, and there was
talk o( 'repeal" as a campaign ory
in the coaiing election. Gertaiu
liberal gentlemen agreed to resume
the remaining stock, and called a
meeting for organization at Salis-
bury July 11, 1850, and trust to the
immense assembly then gathered to
relieve them Moreheacs and many
other eloquent speakers were heard.
But &.11 without real eff act. At last,
old Ms. William Boyian, of Raleigh
mounted the stand and said: "This
morning I happened to recall that
when I was a boy, the "spelling
books' and 'Geographies' all said that
the main staples of North Carolina
were "tar, pitch and turpentine,"
and 1 asked to see one of the new
books to find if there was any
change They brought it to me,
and there were the same old pic-
tures ! My friends, I want to see
this changed; and that, too, before
this feeble frame goes to its grave.
Do you say so? Shall it be done?"
This brought the stock As instance
of noble response, Dr. John Fink,
of Concord, worth probably
$4,000, took stock for $8,000, and
made it good; two maiden
ladies of Cabarrus, Betsey and
Katy Burns, worth probably

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

$2,000 eacb, took $1000 each
And thus the stock was at last
taken; the company was then or
gsniz^d; the surveys were duly
made; the line wae laid out into four
main divisions; and it was arranged
to work on all at the same time.
Then on July 11th 1851, the cere-
mony of "breaking ground" was
performed at Greensboro by
Speaker Oalvin Graves, in the pres
ence of &n immense assemblage. It
wus then agreed that the entire
work should be completed, Jan, 1st
1856. This would bave be„n done,
but for the scourge of Yellow Fe-
ver at Norfolk, preventing the de
Lvery of the iron. But the
last spike was driven Jan 29;h
1866; and on Jan. 30th 1856, the first
train of cars ran through the whole
length from Goidaboro to Charlotte,
223 miles, making about eight years
after the charter was granted.

To be sure this was slow work,
oompared to later trans continental
achievements. But the results have

been simply marvellous. Clou Id the
spirit of my exeellent friend Billy
Boylan now return to his native
State, he would see on the trade
list of the day a greater variety of
articles from North Carolina than
from any other State in the Union,
and he would find here more mills
and factories thau in any other
Southern State And he would see
the products of the East and the
Weat now daily interchanged from
Wilmington, Moraheal City and
Nag's Head in the East, to tne
Cherokee and Tennessee line in the
West

People may well differ as to the
authors of this great North Caro
lina Railroad measure; but to one
fact all assent: Had it not been for
the casting vote of Calvin Graves,
we would probably be "Old Rip"
still.

And now I predict : That in ten
years she will be the Empire State
of the South Atlantic slope

m

Vf

.-•